Automation Anywhere Reviews

I worked for a call center company and most of the use cases were related to developing automation for our clients. We also created some automation for internal processes.

The integrations of Automation Anywhere with the mainframe application for banking companies are among the most valuable features. Banking companies have a black screen (a text-based user interface) used in some banking core systems. In our case, we were able to create very good solutions integrated with that kind of platform using Automation Anywhere. 

Also, if you need to use OCR automation to process standard invoices and send the information to another platform, that is also a very good feature.

The goal of any automation is to provide efficiencies. I would like a way, within the platform, to track the benefits. If you are the center of excellence manager, you need to show to the C level the value that you are adding to the company. The unique way to show that to the C level is how much money you are bringing into the company or how much money you are saving the company in costs. I would like a default feature where each bot gives us data on all the benefits it provides from its process.

They also need to improve and work very hard on the user experience to democratize automation.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for four years.

It's a very good platform in terms of stability.

Automation Anywhere has very good scalability when you want to scale an existing bot.

It is very easy to contact them and receive support from them.

Positive

We were working with a local system.

The initial setup is very easy. If you are not setting it up in a virtual environment, it takes between half an hour and one hour, maximum.

We have deployed it on the cloud, using AWS.

There is no maintenance of the solution on our side.

My team did the setup.

These types of companies, in automation, need to evaluate their business models. They sell it by license, but if they could charge by case or by interaction, that might be better. Right now, it's expensive when you want to scale or use them for simple processes.

I know my Automation Anywhere, UiPath, Blue Prism and, now, Microsoft Power Automate. If you want to automate a simple process, these solutions are very good. But if you need to integrate different platforms or systems using an API, or if you want to widen the scope of automation to create an automated process, end to end, that is going to be difficult for any user. You need to be a developer with very good programming skills. If you are going to automate, for example, downloading emails, Automation Anywhere is okay for non-technical users. But the license is very expensive, so you have to weigh the benefit that you are going to receive.

For me and my team of around 150 developers who are engineers, the learning curve was very easy. For them, it took two or three months because they were already familiar with the logic. Automation Anywhere has good information on the web where the guys can access material and forums to learn about creating different types of automation.

The benefits, for us, from Automation Anywhere are more related to the business case than the tool. You need to have a very good approach from the business analyst's perspective to understand the added value that an automated process can bring to the company.

The most important thing is to train the business analysts in your company to identify what the best processes are to automate, to get the most benefit from the tool.

Overall, this is a very good tool if you have all the permissions and accesses, and you can work without any virtual environment, like VDI or Citrix.

We use Automation Anywhere to implement robotic process automation solutions for complex and time-consuming scenarios, especially legacy systems, SAP, & mainframes.

I have recently used Automation Anywhere successfully for a system that is very old, and didn't even have API support. In fact, the creators are no longer providing support for their product, but we successfully implemented the solution and helped the client to reach their customers.

The other use case we have implemented is for invoice processing, where there are a number of templates available. 

AA helped our clients to achieve their goals faster and more efficiently, also reaching ROI very quickly. We, as an organization, now have a very positive image from our clients' perspective by suggesting Automation Anywhere instead of their competitors. This product has helped them to implement RPA in their organization.

In addition to providing services to our clients, we have used AA in HR management and the payroll processes, where it helped our employees to get rid of tedious and repetitive work. Our employees are engaged in better and more productive tasks compared to the past.

Automating Mainframes, Legacy systems, SAP applications, IQ Bot, & Natural language processing abilities are its strong points. By using its AI & ML capabilities, we have solved many problems for our clients.

No other tool is as stable as Automation Anywhere, considering the ML & AI capabilities & ease of use.

Automation Anywhere's interface is pretty awesome and easy to use, even for a business user. The dashboard & Bot analytics are very clear, even for a guy without any technical knowledge. 

I still believe there is a long way to go when it comes to ML & AI capabilities, though Automation Anywhere is the leader here in the market.

A2019 is awesome with its features but I don't find it as stable as v11.

I suggest having more ways to perform string manipulations and string operations, instead of just what is pre-defined in the V11 tool. 

I would like to have a buffer-type thing where the bot should throw an exception to the production support team when it is looping through a record.

Date operations can be improved without using VS script. 

I have been using Automation Anywhere for the past four years.

The solution is pretty stable but A2019 can be improved. 

The scalability is the best of all the RPA tools that I have seen.

Their technical support is the best. I always find the best solutions in the customer portal.

I did not switch from another tool. Instead, I select AA as per my client's requirements. That said, my choice is Automation Anywhere any day.

The initial setup is very simple and straight forward.

We implemented using our in-house team. 

Our ROI is 70% annually.

The pricing is reasonable and one can achieve ROI faster when compared to other tools.

Automation Anywhere is your best choice if you want to implement RPA.

We used Automation Anywhere to create and integrate a solution that is suitable for a dynamic application. We had a business challenge where things were dynamic in terms of the environment, and we need to integrate into a CICD system.

It reduced cost and effort significantly. Yearly, our organization saved $14,000. The company started to save more, and increased efficiency in the field of automation then started to pioneer.

Within less time than it used to take, we can automate a complete Apex task. Being able to do this is how we managed to win the work for our client. The client was amazed and suggested the solution throughout the organization.

Complex tasks can be automated easily and reliably.

I feel the tool has to provide deeper insights for debugging issues, considering both internal and external factors.

The image recognition functionality needs to improve so that we can work faster.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for one year and eight months.

We were highly attracted to this product due to its scalability. This is because we started to work within a CICD environment.

The technical support is excellent.

Previously, we used the UFT solution provided by Micro Focus. It did well with us for a couple of years but as the application keeps on growing and becoming more complex, UFT has shifted from pros to cons. That's where we shifted to Automation Anywhere.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented through a vendor team and their level of expertise was excellent.

Our advice is that anybody interested in this product should negotiate product bundles in order to reduce the cost of installation and setup. This product will ultimately help you to innovate and excel, and we recommend it.

We evaluated other options like UiPath, but we got what we needed that was specific to our requirements, so we onboarded AA.

I believe Automation Anywhere bundles everything for generic needs and in my case, everything was covered in these generic bundles.

The AA architecture was as suggested by the AA technical support team. We had one server dedicated each for the control room, bot creator, bot runner, and DB server. The servers were hosted on cloud services offered by Microsoft Azure.

Our primary use case included mostly the internal operations orchestrated by the IT team. It included processes like automation of AD ID creation, updating, and deletion.

Other services were offered to the Business and Finance groups, Human Resource department, and marketing department.

Automation Anywhere has played a pivotal role in expanding the current portfolio of the company by integrating with new Aae technologies like AI and ML and increasing the efficiency of the existing processes.

Some of the changes the organization has observed and appreciated the RPA services implemented by AA are listed below:

Regulatory and Compliance Standards: Prior installation of RPA services, there used to a lot of transcription errors through out the processes which proved quite fatal during periodic audits and in meeting compliance standards. Plus, detection and rectification of these errors was quite time and resource consuming.

Improved Efficiency: Post RPA services, the efficiency and accuracy of the processes have increased tremendously and now the employees can focus more on important research and analysis work.

Customer satisfaction: RPA has automated the repetitive and time consuming tasks which has eased off the pressure from the employees. Now the employees can concentrate on client specific requirements and in order increasing the client satisfaction by responding quickly in a periodic manner.  

Automation Anywhere is fairly easy to use and understand. It requires no prior coding experience. Personally, I started my RPA journey with AA learning about RPA as a technology and AA tool from Automation university and found it quite useful.

The bot store feature is quite useful since it provides pre-built bots for complex systems and it helps a lot when starting the RPA journey.

The AA commands provide a drag and drop option which is quite easy to use.

The Bot insight provides a lot of information ranging from bot deployment, success, and failures, and bot efficiency. This is quite informative and easy to understand which can be directly presented in front of business leaders too.

IQ Bot provides AI and cognitive capabilities that prove extremely useful in extracting texts from scanned images and unstructured invoices and documents.

Automation Anywhere provides more than 300 commands but it lacks in certain areas like Excel automation. For eg: there is no command to add, rename, or delete sheet. However, meta bots can be utilized for the same.

AA sometimes poses compatibility problems with new web browser versions like Chrome.

The AA control room is fairly difficult to understand and maintain initially.

Integration with new technologies and scripts like Python. However, I have heard that A2019 supports Python scripts.

The license prices vary drastically depending upon the partnership with the client.

Debugging of SQL queries is hard. The error description is not accurate. I have to initially test the queries on Access and then only I paste them on AA.  

I have been using this solution for more than two years now.

Automation is quite stable even with Citrix environments. However, it posed some problems when in the production phase. We encountered some random errors which used to come on a random basis.

AA was quite stable when used with Window applications and other applications like SAP, proprietary software, and databases.

The solution is quite scalable and best suited when used for processes involving a high volume of data.

The existing infrastructure can easily be migrated to the cloud and upgraded to a higher version too with minimal effort.

The configuration can easily be scaled up when being used in a cloud environment. A lot of bots can easily be run on the same bot runner server while being maintained by the control room.

The technical support team was cooperative and quick to respond to any query. I am highly satisfied with the AA support team. 

I started with AA v 10 and switched to v11 later on.

The initial setup was provided with installation documentation which was detailed. It posed no problems and in case of queries the support team was there to help.

I implemented it through a vendor team who were fairly new to both the RPA domain and AA tool. 

The ROI of AA is best when utilized for processes involving a high volume of data. 
It plays a pivotal role in cost saving by replacing the existing time and resource-consuming project with a fast and efficient RPA solution.

Since it can be utilized 24/7, the ROI is pretty high with minimal efforts and resources by using unattended automation.

Automation anywhere is best suited for processes that have high volume and are repetitive.
They offer good discounts when purchased in bulk or they provide extra bit runner runners with the existing prices. 

The setup cost basically depends on usage. They can be installed both on-premises or on the cloud depending upon the user's requirement.

Not specifically. We were already AA partners by the time I joined the practice.

I have been using the IQ bot and the latest A2019 version and still exploring new features. I personally liked replacing the various recorder and object cloning command with a single recorder command.

The solution sometimes poses problems in the production phase.

Our primary uses for this product are:

1. We are using Automation Anywhere to automate client processes.
2. The processes are ranging from SAP automation, Oracle automation, and mainframes like AS400. RPA has been implemented for a few of the legacy applications as well.
3. Both the Attended automation and Unattended automation have been implemented for many of our clients and they report satisfactory results.
4. We are using Automation Anywhere IQ Bot to scan documents for clients, as well as for internal processes.
5. The automation solutions provided to our clients them are running seamlessly.

Automation Anywhere has increased the overall standing of our company in the RPA market. Because of the successful automation for the client, we are getting more processes, which leads to more revenue.

Apart from the regular pricing model, the Gain-Sharing model provides a win-win situation for both WNS as well as its customers. This means that our customers will start getting the benefits up front, and leverage the benefits right from day one.

COE licensing is also beneficial, to reduce the effective cost of ownership 

All the features are very good, although what I like best is RPA-as-a-service. This drastically reduces the infrastructure setup time and, at the same time, it can be utilized for productive project work.

The multi-tenant and scalable architecture is the main advantage when you have a cloud service. While RPA is the cutting-edge technology to bring digital transformation, the RPA as a service will reduce costs and increase efficiency with ease of deployment, less maintenance, and cheaper upgrade costs.

Even our customers are happy with the RPA-as-a-service model.

Intelligent automation is currently a buzz and I would love to see more innovation in this segment. I am looking for artificial intelligence and machine learning to be tightly integrated into the cloud platform and I hope that they enhance this segment in the upcoming releases. 

Clients are eager to see AI and ML implemented, and thus leverage the technology to its maximum. We can bring more processes into automation, which is what I want to focus on. 

In a nutshell, more innovation in AI and ML will bring more potential and capabilities to the product.

We have been using Automation Anywhere since February 2018.

The solution is stable but again, it is dependant on the underlying client applications. I am confident the AA solution is very stable.

The RPA-as-a-service model helps to scale the solution beyond the limit. 

The customer service is excellent. Since we have a dedicated AA account manager for WNS, in case of any urgent issue or requirement, we can reach to the manager. So far, the help extended by the account manager is very good. 

Our main focus has been on using Automation Anywhere as the primary tool for RPA.

The initial setup is quite straightforward

We implemented it through our expert, in-house team.

Since I am not directly involved in the ROI calculation, I would not comment on this.

We generally follow the Gain-Sharing Pricing model, which enables the customer to start getting the RPA benefits right from day one of their implementation.

The other options that we evaluated were Blue Prism, UiPath, and others. 

It is primarily used for automating manual processes in Project. Automation was carried out in a two-way process, downloading files from client email and scanning values from PDF file. Post these values were compared with thresholds and return mail is sent. Most of the process is carried out in the Windows environment and the Gmail suite is used as the target output location. It also included SAP application BEx for downloading the file as an Excel sheet and sent as an attachment to an email. This was all implemented in AA, and saved a few man-hours in Project.

It was helpful in managing manual task automations and innovative ways to be introduced to projects. It most benefitted us in converting daily routine tasks into automated processes at minimal cost with available infrastructure. This was the most valuable use, that it didn't cost clients infrastructure. Also, a daily status update of the process is sent through an email easily, updating all stakeholders with daily status. The overall features proved a profitable deal in implementing AA in Project.

AA control room is one central system to manage our tasks. We found it excellent to administrate. It was used for easy scheduling of process/task in Remote desktop. This helped to avoid manual intervention to trigger tasks. 

Also, various features like easy email and file reading eg: PDF, XML, etc were innovatively helpful to scan out values and use as variables in code. 

Another helpful feature is the easy command sidebar provided, where we can easily drag and drop a required command.

The accuracy in Web Recorder needs to be improved, defective outputs found most of the time(not sure if is a website side issue). 

You cannot add dynamic variables in PDF scanned values, hopefully, this can be added as a new feature in future.

Integration with most-used email applications eg: Gmail, Outlook, etc for ease in sending mails without any configuration of port or hostname. This could help to concentrate on actual problems, instead of spending time to figure out port and hostname for sending or receiving emails.

I have been using AA for the last five months. 

Recognizable stability observed in tool with various tasks performed in parallel.

Scalability may vary situation with each situation. According to me, most of the time we will get expected results with substantial capacity of computation in the process.

Customer and technical support both were supportive and were able to provide solutions quickly.

We used Blue Prism and the reason we switched was because we found more ease in using features and less documentation required compared to Blue Prism.

Complex, since there are multiple applications involved, SAP, EMail through Gmail suite. Setting up an application in remote desktop with access to SAP and emails. 

In-house.

Our ROI is 22.81%.

License for AA, before investing in infrastructure list out and analyze the current setup, since AA can be implemented at a minimal cost as well without extra infra/setup.

We previously used Blue Prism.

We use AA for Training and Proof of Concept purposes.

OS: Windows 10 

Task: Automate Excel files consisting of quality data.

Multiple Task Cloning

Automated Email Sender

Object Cloning

The basic requirement was to extract a big Lot of data consisting of many attributes.

We need to extract out a relevant attribute from the DB data set and process it such that it fulfills client Data Quality requirement.

Filter out quality data using Manual intervention was a hectic task and that is why I used AA RPA tool. 

• It reduced a lot of time to process quality data and store in organized Excel files and ledgers.
• AA made Task management simpler.
• Hassle-free development 
• Hassle-free deployment
• Good Community Support

There was a large number of individuals who were doing the data collection and artifacts collection, and they were actually a third-party. The solution improves our situation in terms of time, money, and resources. Plus, when you're dealing with Data Quality information, there are additional complications of privacy concerns. If we can keep that in-house and have a bot or automated code take care of it, then there are fewer human eyes on the private information as well. It's a resource saver, it's a money saver, and it helps us with security, keeping more human eyes away from private or touchy information.

1. Task Bots

2. Smart Recorder

3. Meta Bots

4. IQ bots

5. Task Cloning

6. Ease of coding with drag and drop features.

7. It has a very good analytics package.

It is one of the popular RPA vendors offering powerful & user-friendly RPA capabilities to automate any complex tasks. It is one of the "Revolutionary Technology" that changes the way the enterprise operates. This tool combines conventional RPA with intellectual elements like natural language understanding and reading any unstructured data.

Automation Anywhere allows organizations to automate the processes which are performed by humans. It is a Web-Based Management System which uses a Control Room to run the Automated Tasks. Automation Anywhere tool can automate ends to end business operations for companies.

1. Data Mapping Utilities

2. Console Management

3. Bot Runner need to perform much smoother

4. It is not able to use OCR effectively and has limited usability.

5. Handwritten documents are still a drawback. Also difficult in terms of control room management.

6. A few applications take more time for loading when integrated.

7. Declaring the datatype of variables is challenging.

8. The process of migrating codes from one environment to the next can be automated as a default function.

9. The webpage for the control room could use some retouching or redesign to enhance the user experience.

10. Many little-usable features.

I have been using AA for three months. 

I previously used Ui Path.

First have hands on with Community Version and then figure out your requirements. 

Blue Prism

Being a QA analyst, I am involved in testing my application's stability on a daily basis. A2019 helped me in automating the repetitive process that I have been doing every day.

Once I get familiarized with A2019, I am planning to discuss with my teammates how to implement it into our project for all of the new requirements.

Our primary use cases are smoke testing of the applications, sending email for reports, stability testing, API testing for REST services, database testing, and pulling data from Excel and using it in applications.

A2019 has significantly helped us in reducing the overall time that we have spent on our application manually. Going forward, we have also planned to implement the IQ Bot feature that we are still exploring.

Tasks or activities that were taking almost six hours a day have been reduced drastically to 30 minutes, which saves time as well as business costs.

Smoke testing of the application is performed.

Sending reports and sending emails is easy.

I have found the below items most valuable:

1. The ability to find objects easily through the 'Capture' option saves your time most significantly.
   
2. The ability to run only a particular step, instead of running it from scratch.
   
3. The ability to debug.
   
4. Given that A2019 is a web application, it saves space in a significant manner.
   
5. It is user-friendly and anyone can learn easily.
6. No coding knowledge needed.
7. The flow chart view of the steps is very easy to understand.
   
8. The free learning course provided helped me a lot. I was able to better understand and also practice on my own.

I would like to have on-call customer care support so that if the user gets stuck anywhere, he/she can get the issue clarified.

Additional details or support can be provided for IQ Bots.

The Help menu/description can be provided while hovering over actions so that it can help us better to know them.

The Variable feature can be improved, as there is no single place to handle all your variables.

Sometimes, while recording, the screen hangs and we are not able to perform any actions during that time.

Also, the support should be more user-friendly, as we are not getting any support online.

I have been using A2019 for more than five months.

This product is extremely stable.

Scalability is very good.

I was using Selenium but because it involved too much coding, I switched to A2019.

The initial setup is very easy.

I implemented it on my own.

The cost can be reduced a little for users.

I did not evaluate other options before switching to Automation Anywhere.